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Coil - Live at La Loco, Paris, France (2004-05-23) (AUD # 2)

Announced by Coil on April 26, 2004:

“We have been working hard on new musick, new material, new ideas, stage design, costumes, merchandise etc. for the last two months, and are continuing to rehearse and plan for the remaining European dates. It continues to be an exhilerating and exciting process to work on this new material, and we are looking forward to debuting our current line up and presenting fresh meat to the carniverous audience, and we remain undaunted by the fact that our first and major UK date of the tour has disintegrated before our disbelieving eyes. Never ones to let the grass grow under our feet we are taking the opportunity to enjoy the Space and Time that this circumstance has opened up for us we intend to rehearse and record an album length CDR - tentatitively titled Telesmatic Tree in the King Scale. This new work will be for sale at the European shows and from our regular store on this site. We are also well into beginning to record material for a new ‘proper’ studio album The Ape Of Naples.

The ‘remaining European dates’ mentioned above are as follows (with the possibility of more to be added):

May 23 - Paris, France at La Locomotive

May 29 - Athens, Greece at Gagarin 205

May 31 - Leipzig, Germany at Wave Gotik Treffen festival

June 3 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands at Melkweg”

On May 18, the 2004-07-25 Ocean Club show was also added. On May 25, two days after the Paris gig, the finalized tour schedule was released as follows, with the May 29 gig unfortunately appearing to have been canceled:

“May 31 - Leipzig, Germany at Wave Gotik Treffen festival

June 3 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands at Melkweg

July 11 - Jesi, Italy at Il Violino e la Selce festival

July 25 - London, UK at Ocean”

Coil

Live at La Loco

Paris, France

May 23, 2004

AUD #2

Surfaced on March 8, 2017 as part of Black Sun Productions’ alternate Colour Sound Oblivion. Includes pre-show audio. "Wraiths and Strays" cuts out and "Black Antlers" is missing.

1. The Gimp (Sometimes)

2. Sex With Sun Ra (Part One - Saturnalia)

3. Broccoli (Version 2)

4. All the Pretty Little Horses

5. Tattooed Man (The Dark Age of Love)

6. Teenage Lightning (10th Birthday Version)

7. Wraiths and Strays

8. Black Antlers (Where's Your Child?)

“Even an Evil Fatigue” tour, “Black Antlers” phase. The last “major” tour of Coil’s existence.

Most of the typical Coil conventions for this phase were turned on their heads. First of all, this is the only live phase based entirely on one album of material – in this case, 2004’s Black Antlers, something of a glorified demo/rehearsal that Coil promised to record proper studio versions for after the tour, which sadly never came to be. One could argue that the “Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil” phase followed 2000’s album of the same name in the same way, and that the “Backwards / Remote Viewer” phase followed 2003’s The Remote Viewer album, but in the former’s case, the title track for the live phase differed enough from the material on the album that I consider it a separate song, thus it didn’t follow the album completely, and in the latter’s case, the phase drew on many different sources, not just that one album. Second, Peter would switch up the backing videos between the set of songs every time, instead of matching each video to its respective song like in most cases before. Third, Ian Johnstone played the role of costume designer for Coil, designing John’s dress and Peter and Thighpaulsandra’s curtain outfits. He effectively replaced David Cabaret in this regard, as Cabaret had designed every costume previously. In certain recordings, you can even see Ian help Peter and Thighpaulsandra on and off the stage.

Debut performances of all songs except “Wraiths and Strays,” formerly known as “Radio Weston.”

John's vocal stems on “Sex With Sun Ra,” “Tattooed Man,” “Teenage Lightning,” and “Wraiths and Strays” from the multitrack soundboard recording would eventually be used on studio versions/remixes of the songs found on The Ape of Naples and the 2006 2nd edition remaster of Black Antlers. Because that studio remix of “Sex With Sun Ra” was subtitled “Part Two – Sigillaricia,” I am labeling the song as song as such for this particular gig listing all the others as “Part One – Saturnalia.” “Teenage Lightning (10th Birthday Version)” became “Teenage Lightning 2005” and “Wraiths and Strays” became “The Wraiths and Strays of Paris.”

John Balance – mini-harp (egg cutter) on “The Gimp (Sometimes)”

Peter Christopherson

Thighpaulsandra

Tom Edwards – marimba

Cliff Stapleton – hurdy-gurdy

Mike York – Breton bagpipes, duduk

Massimo Villani, Pierce Wyss, and Ossian Brown were all in attendance at this show. As a matter of fact, I believe Massimo and Pierce saw every single “Black Antlers”-era Coil gig. This was also Mike York’s last concert with Coil ever.

During the soundcheck to the show, John sings along with the pre-recorded Buddhist chants during “Wraiths and Strays.” This is the only time he ever does this.

When John comes onstage, he says, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are Coil.” The audience erupts in applause. After “The Gimp (Sometimes)” concludes, John says, “Could I have a little bit less reverb in, uh, my monitors, please? Just a little, uh, make it a little dryer, so I can hear what I'm singing.” An audience member shouts, “Something,” and John responds, “I was singing something, yes, but I wasn't singing anything.”

Before “Sex With Sun Ra (Part Two – Sigillaricia),” which is named such instead of “Part One – Saturnalia” because John’s vocal stems and exclusive lyrics were later on the studio version, John says, “This next track was, uh, composed about a week ago, and I finished the lyrics today, which is why I have a lyric sheet, here, so please forgive that. One day, I'll get professional enough to sing without one. And it's called 'Sex With Sun Ra.' I've never had it, but I've thought about it quite a lot.” The song is about an imaginary date between John and the jazz composer Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount and legally named Le Sony'r Ra), who claimed to have been born on Saturn and enlightened by higher beings there. He wrote countless jazz albums with his orchestra, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and was well known for the mythical African costumes he and his musicians would wear during live performances (which inspired Coil's live garb). He wasn't known to have any sexual preference; space was all he would talk about. He died in May of 1993 from pneumonia. I don't know if John ever met him or saw him live. During the song itself, before the hurdy-gurdy and pipes come in, John’s mic glitches and one of his lines is barely audible, while the next line cuts out slightly. After the song, John says, “Thank you. I want to evolve and change every time we play it live and then we'll eventually record it. And sorry for people – we didn't manage to bring enough CDs because we couldn't afford to have them manufactured, but they will be available from our website very soon, so if you missed out, don't worry.”

After “Broccoli,” John says, “Thank you. We're gonna have to pick another vegetable to do a track about soon.” Someone in the audience shouts something. John responds, “What? The metal? Uh, we, we drink, we eat, we don't, we eat, we drink metals all the time.” Then, Peter says something to someone offstage, whom we don't see, and John says to him, “Be quiet, Peter.” Peter makes the “yadda yadda yadda” hand motion.

Before “Tattooed Man,” John sings “I am waiting for the crunch of another naked lunch” incessantly. The Naked Lunch was a seminal work by William S. Burroughs, whom the Coil boys were a huge fan of. A projected album under various names, including Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window and The Star-Shaped Individual in Society, which would focus on spoken word poetry and would feature a contribution from Burroughs, was never released. After the song, John says, “Thank you very much. That's another track we wrote yesterday. I think Paris inspires us, somehow. In some dark, twisted way, of course.”

After “Teenage Lightning,” John says, “Thank you. That's, uh, a song that you probably recognize, uh. Updated version of, uh, one of our oldest never-hits. We always say that teenage lightning is the energy generated by two teenag-teen teenagers rubbed together.”

As “Wraiths and Strays” begins, John says, “And it doesn't have to be teenagers. Could be old-aged pensions. 'Wraiths and Strays.'”

During the extended intro to “Black Antlers,” John says, “Cottage cheese from the lips of death, wherever you are. Leaf pores, with a lovely hump minute. Cyclical hump.”

John's closing words are “Thank you very much, thank you. That's it for tonight, and as you know, we never do encores, so thank you very much for coming, thank you very much indeed from all of us. We were Coil, ladies and gentlemen, we were Coil. Be kind to our mistakes, won't you? Night-night.”